The city-state and Indonesia launched cross-border payment services, the countries’ central banks said, as part of a regional drive to boost connectivity.
Customers of a dozen banks in Singapore and Indonesia will now be able to make payments to merchants in both countries by scanning QR codes, Bank Indonesia and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint statement on Friday.
The system “will promote cross-border e-commerce activities and tourism spending across Singapore and Indonesia”, said MAS managing director Ravi Menon.
In the first half of 2023, over a million travellers entered Singapore from Indonesia.
The two central banks will also establish a framework to allow cross-border payments to be settled in local currencies in 2024, the statement said. Singapore has already established QR payment service links with China, Malaysia and Thailand.
Singapore and Malaysia also announced a new service on Friday that enables people in the neighbouring countries to send instant payments across the border, MAS said in a joint statement with Malaysia’s central bank. — AFP
